TRAVEL agencies
practicing “dirty tricks”
to win business are
running out of time to clean
up their act.
The difficult current
trading environment has
resulted in more agencies
resorting to unethical
business practices.
According to sources,
some agencies are going
as far as to make it
seem like they can offer
cheaper fares than their
competitors in order to
win business, when in
reality they are deliberately
inputting incorrect
information into the GDS
and simply absorbing the
resulting ADM.
In one instance, an
agency, which preferred to
remain anonymous, says
they quoted a client a
corporate fare on a return
flight from Johannesburg
to Nairobi. The agency’s
client was then approached
by another agency offering
them the same flight at a
cheaper rate. The rate that
the second agency quoted
was in fact an advance
fare but the quote was
provided a week before
departure and not a month
prior, as is the criteria. The
airline in question assured
the first agency that the
competing agency would
receive an ADM. However,
the corporate account had
already been lost and the
affected agency told TNW
it suspects the second
agency was willing to
absorb the pending ADM in
order to win the account.
In another instance, an
agency, which also preferred
to remain anonymous,
had one of its clients
approached by a competitor
offering a cheaper fare
on the Johannesburg to
Nthebe route. The fare was
R300 less than what the
original agency had quoted.
The agency said it had
confirmed with the airline
that no such fare existed;
as such, the best possible
explanation was that their
competitor had offered
a reduced – and illegal –
fare in order to secure the
corporate’s account, even
though they would have to
incur the ADM.
These kinds of
transactions are not easily
affected through a GDS and
would require the travel
agent to manually build
the fare, says Asata ceo,
Otto de Vries. “They would
in fact need to go to great
lengths to deceive their
customer.”
We have on occasion
been challenged and lost
out on certain local tenders
because we have been up
against other agencies that
can offer much lower fares
than we can access, says
md of Carlson Wagonlit
South Africa, Ben Langner.
“It remains a mystery to
us how these fares can
be accessed in a legal
manner.”
Believing these to be
isolated incidents, Mary
Shilleto, ceo of Thompsons
Travel says she cannot
imagine any reputable
TMC engaging in this
kind of behaviour. “We all
avoid ADMs hugely. I can
only think the agencies
in question must be
completely unprofessional,
one-man bands.”
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo
of the XL Travel Group,
says no agency can afford
to absorb the cost of an
ADM. “They will make up
that cost somewhere and
that’s what’s damaging this
industry.”
Clients are wising up to
these tricks, meaning TMCs
can no longer get away with
these dodgy practices, says
Claude Vankeirsbilck, chief
sales and marketing officer
of Tourvest Travel Services.
He adds that there is a
degree of responsibility
that lies with the client,
who should be asking
themselves whether the
fee they’ve been offered
is market-related. “If not,
the agent must be getting
the fee from elsewhere,”
he says.
The reckoning
Meanwhile, Asata says it is
clamping down on deceitful
agency behaviour through
its special purpose audit,
which was first introduced
in September last year.
Members have begun
submitting their financial
reports and Asata should
have them all in by the
end of the year, Otto told
TNW. “Asata has changed
its financial reporting
criteria and all members
are required to now submit
an Auditors or Chartered
Accountant Report,
confirming, among others,
that the amounts charged
to the client by the travel
agent match the applicable
airline invoice as it relates
to the booking class
confirmed to the client.”
